Pages

Monday, May 23, 2011

Justin Bieber won the prize for Top New Artist at the Billboard Music Awards last night, and he made fans squeal with delight when he smooched girlfriend Selena Gomez prior to giving his acceptance speech.

Though he didn't thank her onstage, he did have some sweet things to say about her in the press room afterwards, telling reporters that she's "amazing." When accepting his awards, Bieber thanked his family, his manager, Usher, his fans and "basically everyone who helped me get out of my hometown and live my dream."
The teen pop phenom took home a total of six awards, including Billboard.com Fan Favorite, Top New Artist, Top Social Artist, Top Streaming Artist, Top Digital Media Artist, Top Pop Album and Top Streaming Song. Other big winners included Eminem, Beyonce, Rihanna, Katy Perry, Shakira, Lady Gaga, Usher and Taylor Swift.

Looks like Patrick Schwarzenegger isn't the only one tweeting about the struggle over his parents' break up. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver's daughter Katherine has also opened up emotionally on Twitter since the split.

On May 18th the author and volunteer advocate tweeted: "Everything happens for a reason, the hard part is finding out what that reason is."

On Sunday (May 22), picking up on a quote one of her followers sent her, she said: "Sometimes we forgive people cause we want them back in our lives."

Despite the recent turn of events, it is well known that the former power couple's daughter has always had a strong bond with her family. Late last year, the eldest Schwarzenegger sibling said: "My mom was always good with me. She always checked in with me. I had the best relationship with my mom. I still do. I talk to her four times a day... I also have an amazing relationship with my dad... I talk to him about boys, about going out, about what I'm interested in, about business."

And while it would seem that there is now a long and uncertain emotional road ahead for the Schwarzenegger/Shriver clan, the GirlPower Award winner continues to remain steadfast in her devotion.
On May 17 she tweeted: "This is definitely not easy but I appreciate your love and support as i begin to heal and move forward in life. I will always love my family!"

“Representative Jack Kingston’s plan to limit spending to 18 percent of GDP spending cap would balance the budget in five years with a surplus. That would position the U.S. to begin paying off the national debt come 2016, faster than any other proposal currently being considered. Coupled with action to cut the deficit in half for 2012 and the Balanced Budget Amendment, the Republican Study Committee is offering a smart approach that will help restore order to the nation’s fiscal house now.

“Proposals like these should be attached to any increase in the $14.294 trillion national debt ceiling, which will give the American people confidence that members of Congress are addressing the debt crisis immediately. We cannot afford to wait.”

By Bill Wilson
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich poured gasoline on his presidential campaign and lit the match when he attacked House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan’s Medicare proposals as “imposing radical change from the right” on NBC’s Meet the Press.Americans for Limited Government (ALG) Chairman Howard Rich wrote in response that Gingrich’s comments had “sparked a full-fledged uproar — not only among Republican voters who support the Ryan plan, but also among fiscal conservatives who know the Ryan plan doesn’t do enough to address entitlement spending, the root of our nation’s fiscal implosion.”

In other words, the plan was not too radical — it was not radical enough. It would have been one thing if Gingrich was saying the proposal could have done more, but in this case, he was saying that it goes too far.
So, let’s look at it. The House proposal won’t balance the budget any time soon — it will take 26 years. By Chairman Ryan’s own numbers, the proposal will add more than $8 trillion to the gross national debt over 10 years.

It does not address Standard & Poor’s recent downgrade of its outlook on U.S. debt from “stable” to “negative,” the threat that a full downgrade of the nation’s Triple-A credit rating is substantially more likely in the next two years.

That’s because S&P did not shift its outlook until April 18 — after the Ryan budget was already passed by the House on April 15.
Get full story here.

By Rick Manning
Lost in the incredibly bungled presidential campaign launch of former Speaker Newt Gingrich and the equally bad week of the now former International Monetary Fund Chairman was the bad week suffered by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV).

Reid, who graduated from Utah State University, apparently never met an economics class that he didn’t cut.
While speaking on the Floor of the United States Senate, The Hill newspaper quotes the Majority Leader as saying, “We have to do something about the exorbitant gas prices, and the best way to start with that is to do something about the five big oil companies getting subsidies they don’t need.”

In a nutshell, Econ 101 drop out Harry, is asserting that if you raise the cost of producing a product, the price to the consumer will fall.

The people of both Nevada which elected him again, and the faculty of USU must be so proud, that Harry has discovered a brand new economic theory that no one else had ever stumbled upon before. If only we could make stuff more expensive to produce through higher taxes, consumers will have prices lowered across the board.

Unelected federal agents who are working to regulate and control the free market economy even after the collapse of “cap and trade” legislation have been called out thanks to Americans for Limited Government (ALG) and its top researchers.

The legislation now moving on Capitol Hill aimed at blocking the extra-constitutional power grabs of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and other federal entities, can be traced back to the controversy surrounding Van Jones, an avowed communist, who signed a 9/11 “truther” statement claiming President Bush was behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks. His activities went unreported until Glenn Beck, the former Fox News talk show host, entered the fray and helped to force Jones out.

But Don Todd, ALG’s research director, warns that there is very little daylight between Jones and other unelected czars who continue to operate in influential positions. The “Appointments Watch” project Todd organized on behalf of ALG yielded some sobering results.

“When we started with the project we used to do 10 worst, now we do 10 typical because they are all so hard left, there is a constant thread through all the appointees,” Todd said. “It’s very frightening and no one has picked up on it in the media except for Glenn Beck. It’s important to point out that Van Jones is not an outlier, his ideology is not unusual for an Obama appointee.”

Todd's Appointments Watch project has focused upon hundreds of Administration appointees. Obama EPA political appointee Stephen A. Owens is just one example of someone who prior to joining the Administration was at the forefront of pushing a radical agenda, in his case the failed "cap and trade" idea, and now is empowered as a political appointee to make policy through regulation.
Get full story here.

Chicago Bulls forward Joakim Noah has been fined $50,000 for using a derogatory and offensive term from the bench during the first quarter of the Bulls’ 96-85 loss to the Miami Heat last night in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

Earlier in the day, Noah apologized again as teammates rallied to his defense.

"I just want to apologize," Noah said after a team film session at their local hotel. "I had just picked up my second foul. I was frustrated. He said something that was disrespectful toward me and I lost my cool.

"People who know me know I'm an open-minded guy. I'm not here to hurt anybody's feelings. I'm just here to help win a basketball game."

Noah spoke with league officials early Monday morning.

"Sometimes fans say things that are overboard," Noah said. "But it's on us not to react. If you react, they win. And I did. It was a bad decision on my part. And I'm going to face some pretty severe consequences."

Several teammates came to Noah's defense and said the fan directed a slur regarding Noah's mother.

"What Jo said is something out of frustration -- he has to do a better job of controlling his emotion," Bulls forward Luol Deng said. "But that fan should have been out of the game. He should have been thrown out way before. He just kept going at him, and in an emotional game like that, and things not going Jo's way, it's just human nature to react. I know Jo and I know he didn't mean what he said at all.

"At the same time, there are times when a fan like that -- honestly, I feel like jumping in the crowd and hitting him. We're humans. And the camera is not on that fan at all. I know Jo apologized and everything, but people have to see it the other way, too. Everyone says things they don't mean. He let the emotion get the better of him. But honestly, with a game like that, hearing that fan -- I wanted to do something about it, too. Unfortunately for Jo, he has to pay the price."

"I was able to hear it, but I can't basically say what they were saying," Gibson said. "It was really over the line. It was going on for the entire time Joakim walked back to our bench until he sat down, and they kept getting on him the whole time. At first, he looked, Joakim looked to see who was saying it, and the guy just kept going. I know the crowd -- the crowd looked at the guy, too, like come on, leave him alone, it's over.

"He was really loud. He was a big guy, too. He was intoxicated. When I saw him, I was just surprised, because he kept going and going. Normally a fan may say a couple things and sit down, but he just kept going at Joakim. And it was Joakim the entire time. Even when I was sitting on the bench with Joakim, even when the plays were off, he was still going. Basically the whole game."

Noah knows he didn't handle it well.

"It's a big game," Noah said. "I got frustrated and let my emotions get the best of me."

Justice Anthony Kennedy, joined by the four liberal members of the court, acknowledged that the order is “unprecedented” in its “sweep and extent” but said that the crowded conditions amounted to violations of prisoners’ constitutional rights against cruel and unusual treatment and must be remedied.

Kennedy said that the state could ask for an extension of the original two-year deadline to five years, but that the state should begin to devise a system to select prisoners “least likely to jeopardize public safety.”

The four conservative justices issued two separate dissents. Justice Antonin Scalia, joined by Justice Clarence Thomas, read his dissent from the bench, saying the majority’s decision, “affirms what is perhaps the most radical injunction issued by a court in our nation’s history.” The order “ignores bedrock limitations on the power” of judges and “takes federal courts wildly beyond their institutional capacity.”

Justice Samuel Alito, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts wrote, “The Constitution does not give federal judges the authority to run state penal systems.” Alito said that the three-judge order would lead to the premature release of criminals, the number of which is “equivalent of three Army divisions.”

The GAO put the number of illegal aliens in California state prisons at about 27,000 in 2008, or about 10% of the inmate population. The Feds don’t want them deported to stand trial. Those 27,000 would satisfy 90% of the Supreme’s ruling.

Bob Dylan, who turns 70 on Tuesday, hails from Minnesota and rose to fame playing clubs in Greenwich Village, but he has had several interesting encounters in New Jersey during his seven decades on the planet.

When Dylan came to New York in 1961 at the age of 19, he was determined to meet his musical idol, Woody Guthrie. Since Guthrie had Huntington's Disease and was hospitalized in Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital in Morris County, young Bob found himself traveling to New Jersey to visit his hero. In addition to Greystone, Dylan spent time at the East Orange home of Bob and Sid Gleason, where Guthrie sometimes stayed on weekends.

Among the many Dylan bootleg recordings is a tape recorded at the Gleasons’ house in 1961. Known as “The East Orange Tape,” it includes a song titled “The Story of East Orange, New Jersey," which Dylan wrote after he had a dream about the city. He also referenced East Orange on his self-titled debut album, ending the song “Talkin' New York” with the lines: “So long New York. Howdy, East Orange.”

By 1963, Dylan’s career was taking off, and New Jersey once again entered the picture when a rumor began circulating that “Blowin’ In The Wind” had actually been written by a Millburn High School student named Lorre Wyatt. The rumor, which even made it into the pages of Newsweek magazine, apparently stemmed from the fact that Broadside magazine – in a practice that was not unusual for the time – printed the words and music to the song a year before Dylan recorded it.

Wyatt, who was in a local band called the Millburnaires, then played it for his fellow band members, and in attempt to impress them, falsely claimed to have authored the song. The falsehood spread when the group performed the number at high school assembly and one of the band members introduced “Blowin’ In The Wind” as a song written by one of the Millburnaires. Wyatt eventually set the record straight in a 1974 article in New Times magazine.

In 1970, when Dylan was well established as songwriter and performer, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Princeton University. While it is not unusual for entertainers to receive honorary degrees today, Princeton’s decision to honor Dylan at its 1970 graduation ceremony was somewhat unconventional at the time. Not only did it raise eyebrows among the Ivy League crowd; it also made Dylan uncomfortable.

According to news reports about the ceremony, Dylan initially refused to wear a cap and gown and did not speak directly with any staff or students at the school. Instead, he relayed information through his wife and through singer David Crosby, who had accompanied him on the trip to Princeton. In fact, Dylan found the experience so unsettling that he wrote about it in a song on his next album. “Day of the Locusts” on Dylan’s New Morning album describes the experience of stepping onstage to receive the degree and ends with Dylan expressing relief that the event is behind him as he declares: “Sure was glad to get out of there alive.”

Rubin "Hurricane" Carter

Five years later in 1975, Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, a boxer from Paterson became the subject of a popular Dylan song. “Hurricane" chronicled Carter’s arrest and conviction on murder charges and helped fuel efforts to have the case retried. Dylan and his entourage performed the song frequently during their Rolling Thunder Revue tour, including a December 7, 1975, show at a state prison in Clinton, N.J., and a benefit concert at Madison Square Garden the following day.

Dylan’s most recent brush with Garden State, however, may be the singer/songwriter’s most unusual experience with the state.

Nearly two years ago, while he was in New Jersey while he was touring with Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp, Dylan decided to take a walk in a Long Branch neighborhood. A local homeowner apparently did not recognize him and reported to police that an "eccentric-looking old man" was in the area. The police officer who responded also failed to recognize the singer and refused to believe his claim that he was in fact Bob Dylan – and Dylan had no identification with him to verify his identity. Even after Dylan was put into a police car and driven to the hotel where his tour was headquartered, law enforcement authorities remained incredulous until they were shown his passport.

As details of the escapade came out in the days that followed the incident, the police officer’s reaction proved to be very understandable under the circumstances. In the end, no one was hurt, no one was arrested, and the events that transpired made for an entertaining and amusing story.

Who knows? Perhaps as Dylan celebrates his 70th birthday, he will have a chuckle or two over the incident – or over one of his many other adventures in the always entertaining state of New Jersey.

# # #

Richard A. Lee is Communications Director of the Hall Institute. A former State House reporter and Deputy Communications Director for the Governor, he also teaches courses in media, politics and government at Rutgers University, where he is completing work on a Ph.D. in media studies. Read more of Rich’s columns at richleeonline and follow him on Twitter.

PolicyLink time-lapse map charts growth of people of color in the U.S. from 1990 through 2040; Viewed over 100,000 times across 135 countries in less than 24 hours

NEW YORK, May 19, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- PolicyLink has released "The Map of America's Tomorrow,"a new interactive time-lapse map showing – for the first time – the growth of people of color in America from 1990 through 2040. Census projections have long shown that people of color will soon be our nation's majority. And yet there's been no visualization of what this future will actually look like – until now.

In less than 24 hours, the map has received over100,000 views (and counting) and has been viewed in 135 countries. Harlem Children Zone's Geoff Canada used it as the centerpiece for a presentation he gave on "How to End Poverty" at the Google Zeitgeist Festival in London this week. The Daily Beast'sAndrew Sullivan has also joined in, describing the video yesterday as "The Browning of America."

"This map makes crystal clear just how dramatically the face of America is changing – and how quickly," said Angela Glover Blackwell, Founder & CEO of PolicyLink. "Already, nearly half of all young people are of color, and by 2042, people of color will become our nation's majority. Clearly, this snapshot of our future has struck a chord, leaving no doubt that we must invest in and start building the foundation of tomorrow's America today. Let's start now."

This map is the first installment of "America's Tomorrow: Equity in a Changing Nation" – a new multimedia series exploring America's changing demographics and the leaders who are making a difference.
To view the map and follow the series, visit www.PolicyLink.org/AmericasTomorrow. The map also includes an embeddable HTML link for quick and easy posting.

Andrew Sullivan: "The Browning of America."http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2011/05/the-browning-of-america.htmlPolicyLink is a national research and advocacy institute advancing economic and social equity. Founded in 1999, PolicyLink helps create sustainable communities of opportunity that offer access to quality jobs, affordable housing, good schools, transportation, and the benefits of healthy food and physical activity. The organization is based in Oakland (Calif.), with offices in New York City, Los Angeles, New Orleans, and Washington, D.C.www.policylink.org. Twitter: @Policylink.

Right on schedule -- the "best in class" Hep C cure (commonly known as Telaprevir, but now branded by Vertex Pharma as Incivek®) has been approved by the full FDA, pre-NASDAQ-market open, this morning:

. . . .The safety and effectiveness of Incivek was evaluated in three phase 3 clinical trials with about 2,250 adult patients who were previously untreated, or who had received prior therapy. In all studies patients also received the drug with standard of care. In previously untreated patients, 79 percent of those receiving Incivek experienced a sustained virologic response (i.e. the infection was no longer detected in the blood 24 weeks after stopping treatment) compared to standard treatment alone.

The sustained virologic response for patients treated with Incivek across all studies, and across all patient groups, was between 20 and 45 percent higher than current standard of care.

The studies indicate that treatment with Incivek can be shortened from 48 weeks to 24 weeks in most patients. Sixty percent of previously untreated patients achieved an early response and received only 24 weeks of treatment (compared to the standard of care of 48 weeks). The sustained virologic response for these patients was 90 percent.

When a person achieves a sustained virologic response after completing treatment, this suggests that the hepatitis C infection has been cured. . . .

So, will Vertex price Incivek above that set be Merck for Victrelis? We'll know in moments.

Doctor FAIL should be fired for plugging his delusion; Imagine going to the doctor and he/she starts to talk about magic and wizard.. magic books + magic is real and what not; Totally insane, the doc must be insane, there is nothing else that explains this, well criminal and/or insane.
—
A family doctor, Dr Richard Scott, fears losing his job after he was reprimanded by the General Medical Council for talking to a patient about God.

Doctor who believes in magic/gawd = Crazy in the head

The committed Christian, was accused of “harassment” and told by the medical regulator that he risked bringing the profession into disrepute by discussing his religious beliefs.

The Cambridge-educated doctor has refused to accept a formal warning on his record, and is instead taking legal action to fight the censure.

His case follows a series of high-profile disputes between Christians and their employers over their freedom to express their beliefs, including an electrician who displayed a cross in his van and a nurse who prayed for a patient.

Dr Scott, 50, a married father of three, saw the patient who is at centre of the complaint in 2010.

Following the consultation, the patient’s mother complained that the doctor had abused his position by “pushing religion” on her son.Read more + video
—

The above article lays out some of the conspiracy theories people in France entertain about why the former head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, has been arrested and charged with rape in the USA. It seems that nobody wants to admit that the reason someone accused him of trying to rape her is because he might have actually tried to rape her, rather than because she is a tool of some grand anti-French conspiracy. In Wednesday’s Guardian, Isabelle Germain, a French journalist and “founder of the online pro-parity magazine Les Nouvelles News”, wrote about similar attitudes among the French establishment and in their media.

Strauss-Kahn is indeed innocent until proven guilty, but the question must be asked why it is assumed that a politician accused of rape must be the victim of some kind of conspiracy. The man is a banker and politician and was an intending presidential candidate for the French Socialist Party, which is an established centre-left party much like Labour in the UK or the German Social Democrats. It was understandable that people thought the accusations against Julian Assange were politically motivated, because he had caused the establishment a lot of embarrassment and threatened to continue doing so. He did not have elective office and was not seeking any, and to be accused of having an affair would not have harmed him in the slightest. The same is not true for a politician. I don’t know about France, but I cannot remember any politician being accused of rape, but I can remember an awful lot of stories about extra-marital affairs which led to the resignation of the man (as I remember, it has almost always been men) involved.

In Friday’s Guardian, Kira Cochrane noted that Strauss-Kahn has a reputation in Paris in particular as someone who likes to chase women, or as they call such men there, a lapin chaud (hot rabbit). He has also been accused of attempted rape in the past, by a family friend who is a well-known journalist, but when she was interviewed about the incident on French TV in 2007, Strauss-Kahn’s name was bleeped out whenever she said it. She also noted that excuses have been made to the effect that Strauss-Kahn does not fit the profile of a rapist (when no such profile exists, and in any case, a man with a history of aggression towards women would surely fit it if there was), but overwhelmingly, the reaction seems to be indignation that one of theirs has been accused of a serious sexual offence, with articles by such men as Bernard Henri Levy who seemed to think he should not have been treated like “a subject of justice like any other”, which is, of course, exactly what he is at the moment. Suzanne Moore also notes that he defended Roman Polanski, the case against whom is much clearer. The Daily Beast, a blog based at Newsweek, notes that the French press have named the accuser and given details of her private life as well as speculated on her physical appearance and how attractive she might be. As for Bernard Henry Levy, Nick Cohen accuses him of selectively championing women’s rights in the Islamic world while denying them at home (well, his idea of championing Muslim women’s rights is to deny headscarf-wearers an education).

Strauss-Kahn’s prior remarks are also somewhat incriminating: in an interview with the French newspaper, Liberation, he suggested that “money, women and [his] Jewishness” could be used against him, and that he could be the victim of a honey-trap involving “a woman raped in a car park and who’s been promised 500,000 or a million Euros to invent such a story”. Again, why suppose that he would be accused of rape, as opposed to having an affair or perhaps sexual harassment? It seems odd that he would make such an accurate prediction about something that rarely happens, except to men who abuse women, which he knew he did all the time anyway … and if anyone wants to make sure he doesn’t become the next president of France, it’s not out of anti-French sentiment and it’s unlikely to be anyone outside France.

Joakim Noah should get his checkbook out. The Chicago Bulls star is believed to have directed a gay slur at a Miami Heat fan. USA TODAY posted this video which, if you can read lips, shows Noah dropping the same word that got Kobe Bryant a $100,000 fine a few weeks ago.

Pakistan today said it hoped that China helps Pakistan build a naval base. Pakistan's relations with Washington as the cracks, which is Pakistan's latest move to strengthen Sino-Pakistani relations.

Pakistani Defense Minister Mukhtar said in a statement, if the Chinese government in the construction of Gwadar as a naval base in Pakistan, "We will thank the Chinese government."

Secretary of Defense issued the statement in Pakistan the day before, Palestinian Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has just completed a 4-day trip to China to return home. China is Pakistan's largest arms supplier.

China has agreed to let it take over the management of Pakistan on the request of Gwadar, Islamabad, Beijing is also requested to help it build a naval base in Gwadar.

Prime Minister Gilani to visit China in the Sui, Pakistan Defense Minister Mukhtar said: "The Chinese government has accepted Pakistan's request, the agreement with the Port of Singapore Authority as soon as possible after the expiration of Gwadar took over the business."

Mukhtar said Pakistan requested credit from China, 4400-ton frigate. He added: "We also request the Chinese government to train our personnel in the submarine." Mukhtar said Pakistan thanked China for the construction of Gwadar Port, but "if the Chinese Government in the construction of Gwadar as a naval base in Pakistan, that even thanked. "

India's "deep concern" China and Pakistan's deepening military relationship between, saying it must develop its own military strength to respond to challenges. A ・ K ・ Indian Defense Minister Antony told reporters in New Delhi on the 20th, said: "For us, this is a worthy deep concern. Mainly, we have to enhance their strength, this is the only answer."

It is reported that China plans a joint production agreement, accelerate the delivery of 50 aircraft to Pakistan, the new JF-17 "Fierce Dragon" multi-purpose fighter. Later, Anthony made the above comments.

Anthony also said that insurgents in Pakistan's hiding place is New Delhi's another "major concern." Indian military officials have said the ability to launch in India as the U.S. military killed in Pakistan as bin Laden's attacks, Anthony declined to comment on.

Anthony also said that India may be at the end of March 2012 before the signing of a contract to buy 126 fighter jets the Air Force.

【Voice of America Radio web site on May 21 reported】 Question: serious concern in India Pakistan military cooperation

Indian Defense Minister of China and the increasingly close military cooperation between Pakistan expressed serious concern, saying the need for India to enhance its defense capabilities. Indian defense experts believe that the U.S. should pay close attention to the military exchanges between China and Pakistan, a corresponding adjustment to the policy of aid to Pakistan.

Justin Birgit former Indian Air Force General Singh said that apart from JF-17 "Fierce Dragon" fighter outside of China is also ready to provide Pakistan with F -10 fighter.

He said: "China and Pakistan will produce 250 JF-17 fighters, more than 50. This 50 is produced in China. They are also prepared to provide Pakistan with the latest fourth-generation fighter F -10, plans to Pakistan delivery of two squadrons. China has provided Pakistan the design of nuclear weapons materials and technology. China established a Pakistan free of charge throughout the defense industry. "

Justin Kit Singh said: "The United States provided to Pakistan has been active in the new F-16 fighters, hoping the Pakistani military to carry out pro-American policy, but actually Pakistan's pro-China policy. China's influence in Pakistan, to a large in the United States for all the efforts in Pakistan, it is worth examining the macro. Pakistan and claimed that China is a friend of the United States can only use. "

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for a weekend attack on a naval base in Karachi believed to be conducted in revenge for the killing of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Militants stormed the naval base late Sunday, triggering a fight with Pakistani commandos that continued into Monday, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Fifteen militants armed with AK-47 automatic rifles, rocket-propelled grenade launches and hand grenades charged the Mehran Naval Station in Karachi. About 100 Pakistani commandos then surrounded the militants, and the two sides exchanged gunfire, it states.

There are unconfirmed reports by a journalist based in Karachi on Twitter that gunfire continues to erupt Monday morning.

The hashtag #karachiattacks is being used to follow the events.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik condemned the assault.

"The Taliban and Al Qaeda have announced that they will attack Pakistani installations and of course the armed forces. They have done that. Pakistan is suffering, Pakistan is a victim, but we have the courage and resolve to fight," he said, according to reports by journalists in Karachi.

BBC reports that the attack has left at least 11 Pakistani soldiers dead, and the gunmen are now holding hostages. However, AFP puts the number of dead soldiers at five.

Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ihsan Ullah told CNN the attacks were to avenge the killing of innocent civilians. It said Pakistani security forces are killing under the direction of the United States.

‘‘Fifteen of our fighters entered the naval air base and we don’t expect them to return,’’ the spokesman told AFP.

‘‘They are there to kill. Our issue with Pakistan is its secular policies and friendship with America.’’
Extremist groups including the Taliban vowed revenge after a U.S. raid in Pakistan killed bin Laden on May 2.

The ability of the militants to storm a Pakistani military installation is likely to be seen as an embarrassment for Pakistan's military leaders, who already face criticism after the U.S. raid on bin Laden, the Los Angeles Times states.

A spokesman says the fugitive Taliban leader is alive in Afghanistan. There is no confirmation of reports by several media outlets that he died in Pakistan.

KABUL, Afghanistan — A Taliban spokesman on Monday vehemently denied a swirl of rumors that the movement's spiritual leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, had died or been killed.

The spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said by telephone that Omar -- the one-eyed, self-declared "commander of the faithful" who has long been thought to be hiding in Pakistan -- was alive and well in Afghanistan, directing the group's military campaign.

Residents of Joplin, Mo., walk after a tornado hit Sunday evening. The tornado tore a path a mile wide and four miles long destroying homes and businesses. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

JOPLIN, Mo. (AP) — A massive tornado that tore a 6-mile path across southwestern Missouri killed at least 89 people as it slammed into the city of Joplin, ripping into a hospital, crushing cars like soda cans and leaving a forest of splintered tree trunks behind where entire neighborhoods once stood.
Authorities warned that the death toll could climb as search and rescuers continued their work. Their task was made more miserable Monday morning as a thunderstorm with strong, gusty winds and heavy rain pelted part of the city with quarter-size hail.

City manager Mark Rohr announced the number of known dead at a pre-dawn news conference outside the wreckage of a hospital that took a direct hit from Sunday’s storm. Rohr said the twister cut a path nearly 6 miles long and more than a half-mile wide through the center of town, adding that tornado sirens gave residents about a 20-minute warning before the tornado touched down on the city’s west side.
Much of the city’s south side was leveled, with churches, schools, businesses and homes reduced to ruins. Fire chief Mitch Randles estimated 25 percent to 30 percent of the city was damaged, and said his own home was among the buildings destroyed as the twister swept through this city of about 50,000 people some 160 miles south of Kansas City.

An unknown number of people were injured in the storm, and officials said patients were scattered to any nearby hospitals that could take them.

Authorities conducted a door-to-door search of the damaged area Monday morning, moving gingerly around downed power lines, jagged debris and a series of gas leaks that caused fires around the city overnight.
Early Monday, Gov. Jay Nixon said fires from gas leaks still burned across the city.

“It’s a very, very precarious situation,” Nixon told CNN. “It’s going to be a stark view as people see dawn rise in Joplin, Missouri.”

Residents said the damage was breathtaking in scope.

“You see pictures of World War II, the devastation and all that with the bombing. That’s really what it looked like,” said Kerry Sachetta, the principal of a flattened Joplin High School. “I couldn’t even make out the side of the building. It was total devastation in my view. I just couldn’t believe what I saw.”

The Joplin twister was one of 68 reported tornadoes across seven Midwest states over the weekend, stretching from Oklahoma to Wisconsin, according to the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center. One person was killed in Minneapolis. But the devastation in Missouri was the worst, eerily reminiscent of the tornadoes that killed more than 300 people across the South last month.

SCLC TODAY

TODAY'S NEWS NJ

To Contact Today's News NJ

Frontline: Raising Adam Lanza

In the wake of the mass killings at Sandy Hook, FRONTLINE looks for answers to the elusive question: who was Adam Lanza?

Blog Talk Radio: Antoinette Harrell

Is genealogy a hobby or not for people of African Descent?

Today's News NJ

TODAY'S NEWS NJ

Advertise

Today’s News NJ is an extremely fast growing news blog, pulling in over 10,000 views a month and growing every day! Currently we are building a reputation of a reliable news source, striving to provide relevant, useful, make sense news topics that promise to provide insight into world, national and state news stories that affect you, your family, your neighborhood and your country.

We are also in the process of vast expansion. With the roll out of a new format, we have finally jumped the hurdle from just another blog to a credible news site. Our rankings on Google News and other news collector sites are rising every day. We are in the works on several expansions that will grow the Today’s News NJ community to even new heights! An open forum, a newsletter, members section, print editorials and ultimately a radio show are just some of the plans in the making..

All of this expansion will grow us to the status of common household name sites such as the Huffington Post and Politico. However, we don’t plan to stop there! We hope to provide an alternative media outlet for unbiased, insightful news that you can benefit from and to provide stories and information you may not find on other larger news outlets.

Why advertise with Today’s News NJ?

Today’s News NJ Blog is among the most visited and influential political and News Blogs in New Jersey. Blognetnews New Jersey consistently ranks Today’s News NJ among the top 5 most influential Blogs in the state and has been featured on websites like CNN, Washington Post, The Star Ledger and Fanhouse.com news website a number of times. You can purchase a side banner on Today’s News NJ Blog for $50.00 a month or a once daily in-post ad for $100.00 per month. The banners will appear on each and every page of Today’s News NJ Blog.

For More Information Call: (609) 393 1830 or E-mail: gcw2008@gmail.comYou can purchase a side banner on Today’s News NJ Blog for $50 a month or or an across the top rectangular ad for $100.00 per month. The banners will appear on each and every page of Today’s News NJ Blog. http://www.todaysnewsnj.blogspot/